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IRAN

Rouhani ‘didn’t ask for nude statues to be covered up’

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said there had been no prior discussion between Italy and Iran over Italy’s decision to obscure nude sculptors during a visit to Rome’s Capitoline Museums on Monday.

Rouhani 'didn’t ask for nude statues to be covered up'
Photo: Filippo Monteforte/AFP

In a move that sparked widespread criticism in Italy and beyond, the statues were covered up with cardboard boxes to spare Rouhani’s blushes and was seen as a mark of respect for the traditions of the Muslim country, which has only just had its trade sanctions lifted.

The statues lined a corridor which the Iranian delegation had to pass on their way to a press conference.

Read more here: Rome's nude statues covered to spare Rouhani's blushes

But Rouhani told reporters on Wednesday that the story, which overshadowed the announcement during the conference of deals worth up to €17 billion between the two countries, was hyped by the media.

“There was no contact in regards to this,” he was quoted by Ansa as saying.

“I can only say that Italians are very hospitable, they try to do all they can to put guests at ease, and I thank them for that.”

But the decision was lambasted by Italian politicians, with Daniele Capezzone, a centre-right politician and spokesman for the People of Freedom party, saying, “Italy bowing to Iranians like this is embarrassing.”

 

TRIAL

Danish terror trial begins against Iranian separatists

Three leaders of an Iranian Arab separatist group pleaded not guilty to financing and promoting terrorism in Iran with Saudi Arabia's backing, as their trial opened in Denmark on Thursday.

Danish terror trial begins against Iranian separatists
File photo: Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix

The three risk 12 years in prison if found guilty.

Aged 39 to 50, the trio are members of the separatist organisation ASMLA (Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz), which is based in Denmark and the Netherlands and which Iran considers a terrorist group.

The three, one of whom is a Danish citizen, have been held in custody in Denmark since February 2020.

Gert Dyrn, lawyer for the eldest of the three, told AFP that in his client’s opinion “what they are charged with is legitimate resistance towards an oppressive regime.”

“They are not denying receiving money from multiple sources, including Saudi Arabia, to help the movement and help them accomplish their political aim,” Dyrn said. 

His client has lived as a refugee in Denmark since 2006. 

According to the charge sheet seen by AFP, the three received around 30 million kroner (four million euros, $4.9 million) for ASMLA and its armed branch, through bank accounts in Austria and the United Arab Emirates.

The trio is also accused of spying on people and organisations in Denmark between 2012 and 2020 for Saudi intelligence.

Finally, they are also accused of promoting terrorism and “encouraging the activities of the terrorist movement Jaish Al-Adl, which has activities in Iran, by supporting them with advice, promotion, and coordinating attacks.”

The case dates back to 2018 when one of the three was the target of a foiled attack on Danish soil believed to be sponsored by the Iranian regime in retaliation for the killing of 24 people in Ahvaz, southwestern Iran, in September 2018.

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Tehran formally denied the attack plan in Denmark, but a Danish court last year jailed a Norwegian-Iranian for seven years for his role in the plot. 

That attack put Danish authorities on the trail of the trio’s ASMLA activities.

Sunni Saudi Arabia is the main rival in the Middle East of Shia Iran, and Tehran regularly accuses it, along with Israel and the United States, of supporting separatist groups.

Lawyer Gert Dyrn said this was “the first case in Denmark within terror law where you have to consider who is a terrorist and who is a freedom fighter.”

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